


Sin that Binds You

by SpiderShell



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Airplane Crashes, Attempted Suicide, BAMF Bucky Barnes, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Child Assassin, Gen, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Protective Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:35:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29770077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiderShell/pseuds/SpiderShell
Summary: Bucky blinked at the child, his eyes narrowing on a stripe of blood dripping down the boy’s temple, down his neck, and onto his white shirt. ‘What-” he began, and then he saw.The plane was torn in half, burning, burning, the majority of the roof caved in and crushing most of the seats behind and in front. There were bodies, bodies everywhere. Bucky gasped and covered his mouth, gaze dropping back to the child. “Kid, we have to get out! The plane’s burning!”“My sister is stuck and she can’t get out,” the boy wailed, pointing to the back of the plane. “Please, help!”
Relationships: Bucky Barnes and OC - Relationship
Kudos: 1





	Sin that Binds You

**Author's Note:**

> **WARNING:** Descriptions of blood and violence, major character death, attempted suicide by a minor.
> 
> Anyways, this is a prompt that one of my sisters asked me to write a couple weeks ago. This is for you, my sweet sister! ❤❤❤
> 
> This is going to be considered an extra FebuWhump prompt, but since it's not IronDad, I'm not going to include it in my FebuWhump 2021 series. To be honest, I'm not quiet sure what to think about my writing here. I can't decide whether I like it or not 🤣🤣🤣

Drip, drip.

Blood on the upholstery.

Drip, drip.

* * *

“Mister? Mister?” A small but terrified voice disturbed him from his deep slumber. Bucky blinked open his eyes and rubbed at his face, turning to see a young boy, brown curls too long and cheeks tear-streaked, sitting on the seat beside him. 

Ah, that was right. He was on a plane flight from New York to Wisconsin for a potential job offer, hoping that getting started on a normal life would help him adjust to being someone other than the Winter Soldier. To being Bucky Barnes. 

Why did his head ache?

Oh, that was random.

“Mister!”

Bucky blinked at the child, his eyes narrowing on a stripe of blood dripping down the boy’s temple, down his neck, and onto his white shirt. ‘What-” he began, and then he saw. 

The plane was torn in half, burning, burning, the majority of the roof caved in and crushing most of the seats behind and in front. There were bodies, bodies everywhere. Bucky gasped and covered his mouth, gaze dropping back to the child. “Kid, we have to get out! The plane’s burning!”

“My sister is stuck and she can’t get out,” the boy wailed, pointing to the back of the plane. “Please, help!”

Bucky stood up, ignoring the sharp shock of pain through his left ankle, and followed the boy. 

“Help!” a voice came, and Bucky hurried towards it. A teenage girl was lying across two airplane seats, foot twisted unnaturally under debris. 

Without thinking, Bucky lifted the debris, causing a heart-breaking scream to exit the girl’s lips, and pulled her out. Holding her in his arms, he grabbed the back of her brother’s shirt and dragged them to the emergency exit, kicking at it until it gave under his superhuman strength. 

“You can put me down,” the girl said after they were several feet away. “I can walk.” Bucky nodded and let her slide to her feet. He gripped onto the boy’s shoulder. “Are you alright, son?”  
The boy nodded, looking up at him. “Thank you for saving us.”

“There’s no way I would have left you two in a burning plane with no other survivors,” Bucky said. “What are your names?”

“I’m Libby Tate,” the girl spoke up, voice protective but eyes slightly distantly, her eyes sad and bloodshot and haunted. “This is my little brother, Elijah.” The little boy smiled up at him, the too-long curls hanging in his eyes. 

“Where are your parents?” Bucky asked, frowning down at them. 

"They're at home, but they're really busy and kinda had no time for us, so we decided to go visit our grandparents in Wisconsin," Elijah said in a rush, as if he'd been told the words sometime in the past.

"You mean they let us go visit them," Libby correctes with a frown. 

“Yeah, yeah. You’re the Winter Soldier, right?” Bucky blinked at Elijah and nodded. The boy grinned. "That's awesome!”

Bucky shook his head, biting back a smile. _Children these days,_ he thought.

* * *

Elijah clung to Libby’s back, arms around her neck as they shivered under the torrent of rain and walked into the wilderness. 

“Do you remember what happened?” Bucky asked, watching the raindrops splatter onto his metal arm. “All I remember was the plane taking off."

Libby smiled thinly. "It doesn't matter." She glanced around and tapped her brother's hip. "Eli, hop down for a minute." 

Hesitating, Elijah looked over at Bucky, bit his lip, and let go of his sister. “Libby,” he began, but the girl cut him off with a scowl. 

“Stay out of this,” she said, pulling a gun out of her boot and aiming it straight at Bucky. “So this is where you die, monster.”

Bucky’s eyes widened, and he took a step back. “What? Why?” he asked, shocked by the cold, cold look on Libby’s face. This was the face of one who had murdered before and felt no guilt, the face of someone whose conscience had been seared a long, long time ago. The face of a _killer_. An assassin. 

“You killed my family,” she spat, fingers going white with the pressure she was holding onto the gun. “I swore to avenge them.”

Eli’s soft, sad voice spoke up from behind his sister. “Libby, you don’t have to do it.” He tugged on the back of her shirt, brown eyes pleading. “Libby.”

“He killed our family, Eli!” Libby shouted, eyes blazing. “He murdered them in cold blood; I know, I saw the video!”

“But he was the Winter Soldier, then. He’s Bucky now - he saved us. Please don’t do it.”

Libby’s fingers twitched, and her gaze bore into Bucky, accusing and full of hatred. “I’m doing this to protect you. They told me they’d kill you if I didn’t get the job done.”

Brow furrowing, Bucky held up his hands in front of him. “I don’t know what I should say, what I can say. I won’t say that I remember your parents, but I will tell you that every death haunts me, and not one day goes by that I don’t regret every second of what I did.”

“Good,” said Libby, “you should.”

She pulled the trigger.

* * *

In his mind, Bucky would have imagined death to hurt a lot more than this. His ears rung, but he felt no pain, no blood, no slow trickling of his life. It was if he did not exist, had it not been for the pain in his ears. He opened his eyes, expecting to see darkness, but instead saw thick clouds, leaves, and a figure slumped on the ground beside him. 

Bucky pushed himself up with his elbows. To his left, Elijah lay, eyes wide and chest heaving, shirt drenched in red. One hand clutched his stomach, but the blood pooled around his fingertips, a ceaseless tide of draining life. “Elijah!” he gasped out, crawling to the boy, shoving his fingers away, and pressing his hands tightly to the wound. “What did you do?”

“Had...to stop...her…” Elijah whispered, a tear slipping down his cheek as his eyes shifted to look at his motionless sister a few feet away before returning to Bucky.

“You idiot child,” Bucky said, his own eyes filling, “you’re too young and have too much promise to sacrifice yourself for me. I don’t deserve it. You don’t know the things that I did.”

“No,” Eli said, lifting his hand to grip Bucky’s. “You’re my hero. You were forced to be bad, and turned good when you had a chance. It wasn’t your fault.”

Bucky closed his eyes and sighed deeply. “You’re too profound and logical for your own good, kid,” he said quietly. “If only the rest of the world could be as pure as you. Goodness knows there’s enough corruption and hate to last eternity and beyond.”

Elijah smiled, his eyes slipping shut. 

“No!” Libby yelled, shocked out of her stupor, and fell to her knees beside her brother, gun crashing to the floor. “Elijah!” she screamed, clutching his body to her and sobbing into his shoulder. “Please no.”

Bucky shuffled away from the grieving girl to give her space and looked down at his bloody hands. Another death that was on his head. Like Natasha had said so long ago, there was red on his ledger, and he wanted to blot it out, but was it impossible? Would he live the rest of his life in guilt?

Suddenly, there was a hand at his throat and Libby appeared in his vision. “You deserve to die,” she spat, squeezing her fist until Bucky’s airways were completely cut off and the pressure built up in his chest. “It’s your fault he’s dead.”

Bucky’s gaze grew heavy, and he made no move to escape her grasp. Deep down in his heart, he knew that she was right, and wondered if perhaps it would be better if he was dead. Since he came into the picture, so much destruction and death had occurred, so would it stop once he was gone?

“But he begged me to let you go,” Libby continued, “and for his sake, I will.” She let go of him and took a step back, wiping at her nose with a hand. “Don’t make me regret it.”

Bucky stared at her wordlessly. “Thank you,” he murmured finally, voice rough. 

She shrugged, slipping a hand into his pocket and bringing out a clear vial. Looking into it with a moment with an emotionless gaze, she moved her hand to pull out the stopper. 

Realisation shot into Bucky, and he moved quickly, dashing the vial out of her hands and crushing it under his boot. “No!” he said, eyes wide. “You can’t do that!” He had been a part of HYDRA; he knew what agents of such organisations did to themselves should they be captured or consider themselves with no way out - cyanide. 

Horror filled Libby’s eyes. “They’ll kill me when they find out that I didn’t complete my mission,” she murmured, her voice wrecked. “I need to die before they come get me.”

“You can’t die,” Bucky said, hesitating a moment before putting his hands on the teenager’s shoulders. “You can be free of them, safe from them, I promise. Just don’t let this define your life. You’re better than this, I know. I was in your very position, but at least you have a choice.”

Libby blinked, her eyes looking strangely wet. “I have a choice,” she mumbled. 

“You do! And you can use it to free yourself from the bondages that hold you. Don’t let this define your life. Renounce it; renounce the sin that binds you; renounce the people that hold your mind and soul captive.”

Libby’s breath quickened. “They’ve been my whole life,” she whispered. “What do I do if I don’t have them?”

“Find who you really are,” Bucky said. “Find people who will truly look after you, like I did. Come to the Avengers with me; they’ll look after you and give you a place in their team and their hearts.”

Libby hesitated, looking at him and then down at her shaking hands. “I can’t,” she said finally. “There’s too much blood on my hands.”

* * *

Elijah Tate was buried in a peaceful grassy field under the trees, covered with dirt and flowers as the sunset painted the sky with crimson, orange, and pink. 

Bucky and Libby both said a few words, and more than a few tears were shed. 

“He was only eight,” Libby said. “He was too young to die.”

Bucky nodded mutely and wiped his eyes. 

“I should go,” she said eventually, standing up and dusting her knees off. “They’ll be coming for me soon.”

“Will you reconsider?” Bucky asked, his voice slightly pleading. “The team would love you.”

Libby closed her eyes and sighed deeply, looking older than her sixteen years. “I can’t,” she said, regretfully. She picked up her tote bag, which had miraculously escaped the plane crash, and walked into the trees, stopping just as she was almost out of earshot. “Thank you, Bucky Barnes,” she said, a genuine smile crossing her lips for the very first time. “You’re not all that bad after all.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for being so supportive of me with your wonderful comments!! It means the absolute world to me <333
> 
> Love you guys ✌🤟


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